It's well known that Thierry Henry wasn't a big fan of Alexander Hleb. The Belarussian was often on the end of a withering stare from Henry after another pass went astray or a move broke down.

Of course the pair get to continue their great friendship at Barcelona now that Hleb has signed for the Catalan club. Henry was at the press conference last night to announce Hleb's arrival and this picture really does speak a thousand words.

heh, classic.

I'm not a Man United fan, as you well know, but if I were I'd be most unhappy with the comments made by FIFA President Sepp Blatter. Talking about Cristiano Ronaldo he says:

In football there’s too much modern slavery. I’m always in favour of protecting the player. If he wants to leave, let him. 

What about contracts then? What about protecting the clubs who pay large transfer fees and extortionate wages to players? Imagine if the club said 'We don't feel like paying you', what kind of outcry would there be then? 

A player saying 'I don't want to play for you' is the same, except he still gets his wages every week, doesn't he?

Blatter, of all people, should be trying to create some stability in the game yet now more players will look at the head of FIFA saying this and think the way players act these days is acceptable. Not that anything Blatter says is susprising. Does he have friends at Real Madrid? Would that explain why he's so in favour of allowing Ronaldo to leave United?

And for him to say players are 'slaves' is absolutely reprehensible. How can somebody being paid what professional footballers are paid be a 'slave'? I'd happily be a slave for £40,000 a week or £20,000 a week for that matter. In a world where real slavery still exists it's an incredibly tasteless remark from an incredibly tasteless man.

The game is being ruined by money and sadly those in charge of football these days are driven by cash, not by what's good for the game. Blatter, once again, has shown himself up as a man with no great interest in the game, only in how much money can be siphoned from it.

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For those wondering about The Week in Football podcast our summer holidays, so to speak, are ongoing. Tom Thom(p)son is travelling around the upper-delta region of County Cork while I'm typing this from the Holiday Inn in San Jose. Or, from my house, whichever suits you best.

We'll be back next week to cover pre-season, Italy, Spain and all the usual bits and pieces. 

We're also going to make the blog more bloggy this season, with more comment, pictures, news etc etc so do bookmark.

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Morning all,

a bit later than usual but better late than never. Although that remains open to discussion. Let's start as usual with the predictions. Firstly congrats to ElTorro and 4ndyL who both got the Croatia v Poland result correct yesterday.

I keep expecting lots of goals in games, perhaps it's time to think differently. So for today:

Romania 1-2 Holland

Italy 1-0 France

Expect a glut of goals now! In today's Eurocast, the Euro 2008 podcast, we talk to German correspondant Tom about the 1-0 win over Austria and he's not optimistic about Germany's chances against Portugal in the next round. We also catch up with our regular Italian correspondant Gabriele and he previews Italy v France from an Italian perspective.

Plus there are your emails and voicemails and do please keep them coming.

To contact us use the info below:

UK -  +44 20 7193 6971

SWISS - +41 44 586 62 08

But that's not all. If you have Skype you don't even have to pay for a phone call. Simply add 'oleole.com' as a contact then use Skype to call us. It'll go directly to the voicemail.

And if that's not enough we're happy to get your emails too - send them podcast@oleole.com

You can subscribe to the Eurocast using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the feed itself the feed URL is here, you can download directly here or you can listen from this page:

Till tomorrow...

Friday! Hurrah. The end of the working week. But not for the Eurocast, oh no. We'll keep on 'casting.

As usual we'll start with our predictions and well done to Hodiddle, the only one to get a correct prediction yesterday.

My completely wrong predictions for today are:

Italy 2-0 Romania

France 1-2 Holland

I'm putting money on Holland and Italy for the wins. I think France are too old, too injured and too Domenechy to win the game. Regular pundits should now know to do the exact opposite of what I say as I never get any right. But I have to start sometime, right? The law of averages and all that. Could today be the day?

Now the Eurocast. I talk to German correspondant Tom about their 2-1 defeat to Croatia yesterday, there are some of your emails about Austria v Poland, some thoughts about the penalty that was given, a preview of Italy v Romania with Horia and more. 

Please do get in touch with the podcast, we're always happy to hear from you by email or voicemail. Give us your opinion on the issues, the controversies, the players, performances or anything else to do with Euro2008.

To contact us use the info below:

UK -  +44 20 7193 6971

SWISS - +41 44 586 62 08

But that's not all. If you have Skype you don't even have to pay for a phone call. Simply add 'oleole.com' as a contact then use Skype to call us. It'll go directly to the voicemail.

And if that's not enough we're happy to get your emails too - send them podcast@oleole.com

You can subscribe to the Eurocast using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the feed itself the feed URL is here, you can download directly here or you can listen from this page:

Hasta mañana, amigos.

Morning all,

hopefully you've enjoyed a fine weekend of football. Nice to have it back, isn't it?

We'll start with the predictions from yesterday unlike the first day nobody got both correct. Hitzelspergerandchip got Austria 0-1 Croatia correct while gimmeaminute was spot on with Germany 2-0 Poland.

So far I have gotten none of them right because I am absolutely crap at predicting anything. That won't stop me having a go though, my predictions for today's games are:

Romania 0-2 France

Holland 2-2 Italy

Right then, tell us how you think the games are going to pan out in the comments below. You'll also find Eurocast2 to listen to or download. 

In this episode we talk to our German correspondant Tom about the victory over Poland, Austria's defeat to Croatia and there are some emails about Croatia's diving, thoughts on refs and a preview of tonight's games in the group of death.

But remember we really want to hear what you think. Don't be shy, let rip, be creative, whatever you like. Just take part.

To contact us use the info below:

UK -  +44 20 7193 6971

SWISS - +41 44 586 62 08

But that's not all. If you have Skype you don't even have to pay for a phone call. Simply add 'oleole.com' as a contact then use Skype to call us. It'll go directly to the voicemail.

And if that's not enough we're happy to get your emails too - send them podcast@oleole.com

You can subscribe to the Eurocast using iTunes by clicking here, if you want to subscribe to the feed itself the feed URL is here, you can download directly here or you can listen from this page:

Right then, until tomorrow.